The World We Live In
by Shining Charizard
Summary: Just a simple song fic. It's a good one to motivate somebody with. Serious tones. Good song too!


Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! I also don't own the song in this fic. I'm not that rich.  
  
SC: Hey everyone! I know you're probably getting sick of songfics, but I thought it would be fun to try one out. I heard this song while on a summer road trip to Denver, and it seemed like a very inspirational song, so I decided to write about it.  
  
Song: "Land of Confusion" by Genesis  
  
/ blah / = Yugi to Yami  
  
// blah // =Yami to Yugi  
  
~ "blah" ~ = song  
  
The World We Live In  
  
Yugi rolled over in his sleep. He had been tossing and turning for hours, unable to find peace in a restless slumber. It was the night before the Battle City tournament finals, yet there were more than nervous feelings at work inside his mind.  
  
In a distant corner of Yugi's mind, Yami was also unable to sleep. Even though the former pharaoh had lost his trove of memories, something from the past was invading his dreams.  
  
An eternal blackness, darker than the night outside their window, filled the eye of Yami's mind. Images of his friends, the very people that were most precious to him, appeared one by one inside the black. The shifting shadows swirled together and created a black hole, which began to pull his friends deeper inside the vortex.  
  
// No! // Yami cried in his sleep, watching helplessly as the gaping hole sucked in first Joey, then Tristan, followed by Bakura and Yugi's grandpa.  
  
// Please! // Yami yelled again. // Don't take them! Take me instead! //  
  
His fearful pleas were not regarded, and Tea began to disappear in the spiraling mass of darkness. Yami felt the bottom of his stomach drop below his knees.  
  
// Tea! // he cried frantically, wishing with all his might that he could help her.  
  
/ Yami! / another voice called from the darkness. The pharaoh turned and saw Yugi desperately trying to escape the vortex's wrath.  
  
Yami felt the heat of anger linger on his face as he watched his protige claw at the air. He was enraged, and wanted to take this hole and shove it down the throat of whoever created it.  
  
// Yugi! I won't let them take you! //  
  
/ Take me where? / Yugi's voice was louder than earlier, even though he was floating farther and farther away. Yami could hear maniacal laughter in the distance that he somehow recognized.  
  
// What? I don't know! // Yami cried in confusion.  
  
/ Well, if you don't know, then just stop yelling and WAKE UP! / Yugi yelled right into his dark side's ear.  
  
// Aaah! //  
  
Yami's eyes snapped open. His vision was blurred with snippets of the dream, and he didn't even notice Yugi sitting right next to him.  
  
/ Are you all right Yami? /  
  
// Aaah! Oh, Yugi, it's just you. Yes, I'm fine. //  
  
~ "I must've dreamed a thousand dreams." ~  
  
/ Are you sure? You were yelling in your sleep! So loud that it woke me up! /  
  
// It was just a nightmare. //  
  
~ "Been haunted by a million screams." ~  
  
/ Do you wanna' talk about it? /  
  
// Well, there was this black hole, and you and all of the others got sucked in. //  
  
/ Gosh, that is pretty bad. Is that all that happened? /  
  
/ No, I heard.laughter. It reminded me of. // he paused in realization, // Marik. //  
  
/ Do you think he'll be at the tournament? /  
  
// Most assuredly. Marik'll do anything to get what he wants, and if that means getting enough locater cards to find the finals, and us, he will. He'll be ready. //  
  
~ "I can hear the marching feet. They're moving, into the street." ~  
  
/ Don't worry Yami; everyone will be safe. /  
  
// That's not what worries me. Even though I have lost my memories, I seem to remember something happening in the past that was quite like this. //  
  
/ What happened? /  
  
// I don't remember all of the details. //  
  
/ Do you remember what Ishizu told us a while back? /  
  
// I think so. Review it anyway. //  
  
~ "Now did you even use today?" ~  
  
/ She said that even though Marik is creating a terrible evil, that it could be stopped. Even though there is a lot of risk involved, only you and I can put an end to his scheme. /  
  
~ "They say that danger's gone our way." ~  
  
// Yes, I remember. But what has that have to do with anything? //  
  
/ We have to stay strong, and keep our spirits up. Any worries or fears we have could put our friends, or the world, in danger. /  
  
// I suppose you are right. // Yami felt his fears ebb away. // Ha! You really are quite the motivational speaker. //  
  
/ I just want you at your best tomorrow. / Yugi replied, looking into the pharaoh's eyes. Their usual powerful sparkle had returned.  
  
~ "But I can see the fire's still alight. They're burning, into the night." ~  
  
// All right, now let's get some sleep. We'll need it for tomorrow. //  
  
/ Right. / Yugi agreed, and left his counterpart's soulroom.  
  
Once Yugi was gone, Yami sat quietly, pondering the next day's events. His thoughts fell on Marik, and instantly bits of her prior rage returned to his face. Yami felt destined to remove this piece of slime off the face of the earth. The Eye of Ra glowed slightly on his forehead, but Yami toned it down so his partner across the hall would not sense it.  
  
Still angry, Yami envisioned the upcoming match against Marik, and what it would take to defeat him. After that, his thoughts wandered from one thing to the other until he drifted off to sleep.  
  
~ "There's too many men, too many people, making too many problems, and not much love to go 'round. Can't you see this is the land of confusion?" ~  
  
~*~*~  
  
Yugi knew that Yami was still awake; he had felt slight tension come from his double's room.  
  
/ If only he would calm down a bit. / thought Yugi worriedly. What sort of matches would he face tomorrow alongside Yami? Only time would tell.  
  
~ "Well, this is the world we live in, and these are the hands we're given. Use them, and let's start trying, to make it a place worth living in." ~  
  
~*~*~  
  
Sunlight crept into Yugi's room as morning arrived, splashing the walls with a golden light. In his bed, Yugi stirred and pulled the blanket over his head, so that the light wouldn't reach his eyes.  
  
// You know, for a motivational speaker, you don't have much initiative. //  
  
/ Aaah! / Startled, Yugi rolled over and fell out of bed, landing hard on the wooden floor beneath him.  
  
/ Yami! You could've warned me! / Yugi cried.  
  
// Sorry, but after last night's speech, I didn't want you to be late for the finals. //  
  
/ The finals! /  
  
// Don't tell me you forgot about them! //  
  
/ I'm going to be late! /  
  
Yugi rushed around the room, hurriedly preparing for the day ahead. Once he had everything he needed, and he had checked his deck twice to make sure all was well, Yugi raced down the stairs and out the front door.  
  
Yugi had planned to meet up with Joey and the others before heading off to the secret tournament location. He was silent the whole way, until Yami interrupted him.  
  
// Yugi, if you don't mind, I think I'll go off for a while. //  
  
/ What do you mean "off"? /  
  
// Just: "away". I'll go into my soulroom temporarily so I can clear my head a bit. If there is an emergency, you can still contact me. //  
  
/ Well, okay, I guess. /  
  
// Thanks. //  
  
Yugi sensed Yami fade away, and he felt somewhat lonely until Joey, Tea, Mai, Tristan, and Bakura showed up.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The finalists lined up: Yugi, Joey, Mai, Bakura, their friend Namu, whom Tea introduced, Ishizu, and a strange man with ancient writing carved on his face.  
  
It was this man who gave Yugi the creeps, for when Seto ordered that everyone call out their names, the man responded with: "Marik."  
  
/ So this is Marik! Finally we meet. / Yugi said. Inside he felt a little afraid, and he wanted Yami to be with him right now. Yami was still in his soulroom, and scared as Yugi was, he didn't want to badger his friend with his petty fears.  
  
~ "Oh, Superman, where are you now, When everything's gone wrong somehow?" ~  
  
Seto announced that he would be randomly assigning the finalists against each other. Yugi gulped as a large metal slot machine spun wildly around, waiting to dish out the results.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Yami was also fretful. What if he failed at this bestowed game? He had almost let Yugi down once, but this time the whole world was at stake! What was he to do?  
  
~ "The man of steel, man of power." ~  
  
He didn't think he could take so much pressure. So many different things could go wrong.  
  
~ "I'm losing control by the hour." ~  
  
~*~*~  
  
Yugi's worries combined with Yami's, making a great deal of doubt. He decided to seek council in his double's soulroom, thinking that no one would notice if he zoned out for a moment.  
  
/ Yami? / he called as he knocked on the door.  
  
// Come on in Yugi. //  
  
Yugi entered and found the pharaoh sitting on the floor, mixed emotions flowing across his face like an ocean current.  
  
/ We need to stop all this worrying. I really think we can pull this off! /  
  
// But what if we should fail? What's the point in trying? //  
  
/ Because, if we don't try, then we'll never know if we actually can beat Marik. /  
  
// Why shouldn't somebody else try? //  
  
/ Even if they did, they wouldn't win. Ishizu told us that we're the only ones. You and I. /  
  
Yami looked up into the soft eyes of his hikari, and discovered the hope, courage, and truthfulness that lay within them. He got up off the floor and dusted himself off.  
  
// You're right. I can't believe how foolish I was to doubt us even in the least. //  
  
/ That's okay; I was a bit scared myself. /  
  
// Maybe you should get back; the others will think that you're a zombie or something if you don't "wake up" out there. //  
  
/ Alright. / Yugi said, and with that he returned to his own soulroom.  
  
~*~*~  
  
~ "This is the time, this is the place, For we live for the future. But there's not much love to go 'round. Tell me why this is the land of confusion." ~  
  
~*~*~  
  
Back outside his mind, Yugi refocused his eyes on the current scene. His conversation with Yami hadn't taken long, for the slot machine was just now slowing down. The first slot of the machine had now frozen, and in bold letters the word "Yugi" was written.  
  
/ That's us. Now it's time to see who we're gonna' have to take down first. /  
  
// Whoever it may be, I'm sure we'll defeat him, or her, in battle. Together. //  
  
/ Right. Destiny, here we come! /  
  
~*~*~  
  
~ "Now, this is the world we live in, And these are the hands we're given. Use them, and let's start trying, To make it a place worth fighting for."  
  
"This is the world we live in, And these are the hands we're given. Stand up, and let's start showing, Just where our lives are going to." ~ 


End file.
